Sometimes you don't need sandpaper

[Charlie Jones]

Just a sharp plane.

Here's a pic of the keel timber I found for the Princess 22. The taper at the end is only planed- see the glow? The edges of the wood will actually cut.

This chunk of heart pine came from an old house, built somewhere around 1900. I counted 118 rings in the end of the 4 x 4 . We did some calcs and the tree probably started growing around the American Revolution :shock: .

To bad wood like this is so hard to find today isn't it?

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[Mark Hughes]

I know what you mean about a sharp plane, Charlie. That is how I scarfed my rubrails. Drew in the lines for a 12:1, and planed down to the line. I got a beautifully tight joint that way.

[Barry Pyeatt]

It is as much an art as a skill. Nothing is quite as satisfying to me as working with a good plane. But they need sharpening and that is beyond most of the new builders. Same with good cabinet scrapers, you don't need sandpaper with a good sharp scraper, but again, it is as much an art as a skill.

I've seen people in absolute awe when they first see that curl of wood coming off the blade and feel the end result. It might take them hours to do what can be done in a few minutes with a good plane and/or scraper.

[Charlie Jones]

Barry- more years ago than I really like to think (1956) I was a member of a Sea Explorer ship that was sponsored by the Houston Yacht Club. Weren't many aluminum masts around back then (few fiberglass boats either )

I was watching an old (to me at 15) man work on a mast from one of the cruisers. He had this solid round stick about 40 feet long propped up on horses and was planing it after some kind of work. I can still see him walking the length of that mast, pulling a single long curl with that plane. I've been in love with planes ever since . I've got more planes than I have sanders, by about double. I'm a sucker for 'em

[Barry Pyeatt]

I love it! Kinda gives me shivers when you relate that story to me. I learned to work with wood from my father. He was a loftsman/pattern maker during WWII. He built mine sweepers here in the Northwest.

He would bring home scraps of various woods to make projects from. For years he supplemented his income by making wooden mallets. He would bring home the ironwood cutoffs and turn them on an old lathe he had. Then turn ash or hickory handles for them and mortice tapered holes in the mallet heads for the handles to fit into. Then drive a wedge down thru the handle to lock it tight. I can remember watching him do that later as I got old enough to be aware of what he was doing.

He had a collection of planes and chisels and scrapers that he used all the time. Wish they were still around. I have some of his tools along with a tool cabinet that he built back in the late 40's from scraps of wood he brought home from the shipyard. Lots of little dovetailed drawers and well fitted places for everything. Most of the tools are long gone, but the craftsmanship remains as his legacy.

My greatest gift from him was the love and respect for working with wood as well as the admiration for those that appreciate a good job well done.

[Charlie Jones]

I hope you've put tools back into that box and are using it. I really don't like seeing a collection of quite useable tools just sitting on a shelf. I have a large number of very old tools, but they are all users. I have little use for ones I can't use.

One of my most cherished tools is a small smoothing plane that belonged to my stepfather. It's a Dunlop from Sears, about equivalent to a Bailey #4, but smaller. Made in Germany. Since there was little imported from Germany immediately after WW2 and I remember him having it when Mother and he got married in 1950, I suspect he acquired it before WW2 started. It's still in it's original box, but it gets used on special jobs. I never take it out for just run of the mill work.

[TexasPhil]

Charlie and Barry,

Sounds like you two have some nice planes and scrapers! I am in envy!

I love good planes too, but they are very difficult to find. I have a couple small ones I got a couple years ago, but they are nowhere near as nice as the one my Grandfather gave to my Dad. I got to use it a lot as a kid, but Dad won't let me have it :cry:

I have yet to find some nice planes.. where do you get them nowadays?

Last year I also purchased a scraper... It was nice for a couple weeks, but I have not been very good at puting a good edge on it... any advice?

[Barry Pyeatt]

Hi Phil,

The secret to getting a good curl off of a scraper and have it work right for you is to get it sharpened, I use a diamond stone for coarse and then use a diamond dust on a piece of glass to work the edge. It will develop a very fine little ribbon on the edge that is barely hanging on. Then I have a round steel rod that is for burnishing edges and I just run it down the edge of the blade to knock the fine little ribbon off and slighly form a curl to the edge. So the scrapers only work well when they are pulled in one direction. It is easy to see which way is the correct way if you hold it up so the light shines off of it.

On planer blades the secret is in getting them flat on the back edge first. So you have to use a piece of plate glass to flatten them with abrasive and then polish them just like the scraper blade. Once that is accomplished you can get a good edge on them. If you don't have them flat, then you will never have a good edge to work with.

I have a very slow Japanese water wheel for sharpening blades. It has a jig to keep the angles correct for the various blades and to keep the edges square with the sides of the blade. It doesn't heat up the steel. It is slicker than slick and then I polish them. Most of them can be shaved with if you wanted them to be used that way. But they have to be stored with the blades protected to keep them that way.

I have a couplesmaller length jack planes from Lee Valley that I like and an old 24" jack plane from Stanley that is a fine tool. Couple Bailey's that I got from my Dad and some English block planes that fit my hands really good. And two old handmade curved planes for making chairs.

Lee Valley has good tools.

http://www.leevalley.com/home/main.asp

Yes Charlie,

All my precision hand tools have compartmented rests for them in boxes. They cost too much and take too long to setup to just let them sit around and get ruined.

[Charlie Jones]

here's a link to a section of the Neanderthal Woodworker- folks who use and work with hand tools.

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/en.html

There's all kinds of tutorials in there from sharpening scrapers to how to identify a plane.

What kind of plane are you looking for? I pick mine up in strange places sometimes. Got a really nice Bailey #7 (22 inch jointer) from under a customers trailer- she gave it to me all rusted up. Works great after I cleaned and sharpened it. I"ve found some at tool shows and one or two at antique shops. Also haunt garage sales particularly those out away from town. Be prepared to clean them up, but the older planes seem to just be better than the new ones sold today. I've picked up a lot of chisels that way too, over the years.

If you see a Keen-Kutter name, it's no good - just buy it and ship it down here- I'll dispose of it for you

You can really get away with just three. A good #9 1/2 block plane, a #4 bench or smoothing plane and a # 5 foreplane. The next one I'd add would be a #60 1/2 low angle block plane. Those are really good for end grain or "troubled" wood. Anything after that is really unnecessary unless you are working wood a lot. I use the big jointer when building table leaves cause I can get a great tight joint just as easily with it as I can with the jointer and it's so much quieter.

Of course, if you get to be a plane junkie like me, you'll wind up with 20 or so and still be looking I find it really hard to pass one up, particularly if it's a type I don't have.

[Frank Hagan]

I love hand planes. When my parents moved, and we divided up some of my dad's tools, I took all of the planes except the fancy molding plane that my brother wanted. I forget the Stanley number on it, but its the one with all the irons to create molding. There's a million of them out there in nearly new condition ... because they're a nightmare to use.

My favorite is a little Stanley low-angle block plane with an adjustable throat ... fits my hand like it belongs there. I have a larger plane, a number 7 I think, from my father in law, but haven't taken the time to true the sole and get the iron really sharp.

I found a scraper with a round wooden handle that adjusts to different angles at a flea market here. This woman had a box of hand tools, things like old files, etc. A pretty picked over pile of junk, really. At the bottom was the scraper and I picked it up and smiled. She said "Do you know what that is?" and I told her I did. She told me of the times she saw her dad using that scraper on projects, on the furniture he built, some of which is still in her house. She tried to give it to me, but I insisted on paying her the $2 she had tagged it with. We talked about 40 minutes or so about our fathers, and the work they did, and I feel the same kinship to that scraper that I do to my father's tools. Kind of a "soul of the woodworker inhabiting the tools" type of thing. Its an honor to have a well used tool.

[Charlie Jones]

EXACTLY!! We really don't "own" those old tools. We're just the next in line to be priviledged to use them.

I often wonder what the previous user was like, what he built, where the tool had been. I have a couple of "transition" planes. Metal works and a wooden sole. Those are probably my favorites. One or two have initials cut into them some place.

To bad they can't talk isn't it. What stories some of them could tell.

Frank-- that plane is most likely a #45 or 55. Go to the link I posted- there is a guy who has a Stanley history- pics and descriptions of all the planes Stanley ever made.

[TexasPhil]

Wow, what a lot of great information.

Since I am just starting out in acquiring a set of planes, I think I should start out with Charlie's suggestion.

I have a 6" Stanley Block Plane. I don't know the number on it, but a longer one would probably be good.

So, I need to find the #4 smoothing and #5 foreplane (is that the same as the Record #05 Jack Plane?

One that I really want is one of the long Jointer Planes.

One problem with these is they cost as much, sometime even more, then their powered equivilent. At the Lee Valley site, the Veritas #6 Fore Plane costs $219.00. That is more than I have spent on just about every power tool I own. There are a few exceptions, but that is VERY expensive. I'd almost be afraid to use it!

Guess I gotta go find old used ones.

Ouch! Some of the old ones listed are even worse... $2495 for an old plane: 98 Birmingham, or $525 for a 2 Stanley.

[Barry Pyeatt]

Might be because the old ones are really better than most of those currently made. Lots of interest in older hand tools, especially planes and spokeshaves.